KEY POINTS:
This was a year of tensions in a country where Maori continue to assert themselves as equals.
The independent voice of the Maori Party dominated much of the political year, the Rangatiratanga flag, Landcorp and Ruatoki affairs exposing how Pakeha-majority caucuses constrain Maori MPs in mainstream parties.
The party scored a big hit criticising the Government for voting against a UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Passed with an overwhelming majority to protect 370 million indigenous people, only four Governments voted against it - New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States.
Polls indicate the Maori Party could win all seven Maori seats, but the race is not over yet. They may have created their own nemesis. National and Labour now give more rein to their Maori MPs, and never underestimate Parekura Horomia or Nanaia Mahuta - tribal ties and Cabinet posts go a long way with iwi.
Pita Sharples was Maori politician of the year. The Race Relations Office says he is our best cross-cultural communicator. "Ruatoki set race relations back 100 years" drew some criticism, although 60 per cent of Maori agreed and Pakeha will forgive Sharples for being human - that is precisely why they like him.
Honourable mentions: Hone Harawira for correctly labelling Australian Prime Minister John Howard; Parekura Horomia, best marae politician; Metiria Turei, most under-rated and brightest Maori MP; Shane Jones, studious ambition; Georgina te Heuheu, grace to balance bad boy Tau Henare.
Tribal leaders of the year: Mark Solomon knows his people in an age when some post-settlement leadership aspirants are spoiled brats. Tame Iti for dedication to Tuhoe Mana Motuhake. His son for dignity in a first interview. Tuhoe for enduring a third invasion.
Worst political bungle: Destiny Church's joint leadership launch of a new Christian party without inviting the other leader.
Treaty of Waitangi settlements progressed with several new agreements. Settlements provide a new start by creating new injustices. Totalling $870 million (about the same as Maori student debt) they're cheap justice at 1 per cent of losses.
The crown policy to negotiate with "large natural groupings" is manipulative, with preferential treatment for co-operative tribes, marginalisation of those who question, and the disguising of dollar values to suit.
The Whenuakite and Rangiputa occupations exposed Landcorp profiteering by selling returnable land whose rising values had outstripped 1990s settlement quotas. Five times or more land is being sold off overseas than is returned to Maori. TVNZ led the cross-cultural clumsiness charge trying to pass off Police 10-7 as Maori programming.
Hypocritical Transit New Zealand refused to fly the Rangatiratanga flag from Auckland Harbour Bridge. Without consulting Maori women, a former probation staff member took a case to the Human Rights Commission that Maori powhiri are sexist.
Intermarriage reached a historical high with more than 50 per cent of Maori marrying non-Maori. Two incidents of "body-snatching" highlight the tensions that result.
In sport, the America's Cup team, Black Caps, Silver Ferns and All Blacks lost because they don't have enough Maori. Temepara Clark is back in the Ferns (hopefully) and Piri Weepu and Troy Flavell need to be in the All Blacks.
Statistics showed Maori are recovering from the differential impact of 1980s-1990s economic re-structuring. Maori unemployment has dropped from 25.4 per cent in 1992 to 7.9 per cent. Gaps with Pakeha are closing, the median Maori income rising 40 per cent since 1999 compared with 30 per cent for non-Maori.
Along with helpful policies such as Closing the Gaps, Working for Families and a climbing minimum wage, steady economic growth and the strength of the Maori renaissance have been the main drivers.
Three hundred new Maori businesses start every year; Maori are beginning to dominate tourism; combined Tainui and Ngai Tahu assets are reaching $1 billion; there are strong profits in fisheries.
There is more do. Maori median incomes, at 83 per cent of the national average today, are not yet the 92 per cent of pre-Rogernomics 1983. There is also a widening gap between the materialistic Maori middle and lower classes and a lag between economic prosperity and gains in health and welfare.
Maori are behind on 16 of 20 Ministry of Social Development indicators. Maori are more likely to contract diabetes, suffer a heart attack, receive a benefit, smoke, commit suicide, be obese, be assaulted, suffer injury at work and live in overcrowded housing - no wonder the average lifespan gap hasn't closed.
Similar gains and questions arise in education. More tamariki attend preschool and the proportion leaving school with level 2 NCEA qualifications has jumped from 50 per cent to 56 per cent of the national average in three years.
However, Maori suspension rates remain four times those of Pakeha. Evidence suggests the problem lies with mainstreaming. Maori do better in Maori contexts - tamariki in immersion environments outperform their mainstream peers in Year 11 NCEA.
Maori are the highest tertiary participating ethnic group - 23.6 per cent compared with 14.3 per cent non-Maori, but recent attacks on wananga have slowed enrolments. The University of Auckland policy to restrict enrolment may be the thin end of a wedge between ethnic wananga and middle-class universities.
Nia Glassie and Jynia Te Awa rest in the shadow of Chris and Cru Kahui, innocents bashed. A challenge for both Pakeha and Maori - one denies colonisation as a cause, the other the fuller impact of colonisation on its humanity. Pre-European Maori didn't bash kids. Maori now hit children too often and too hard. Maori are 50 per cent of 1-year olds taken into state care, 40 per cent of 2000 critical and 25,000 general cases of child abuse reported annually. Maori child homicide is three times the rate of non-Maori. Maori girls suffer twice as much sexual abuse; Maori women endure twice the physical abuse; Maori men are 50 per cent of those jailed for male assaults on females.
The anti-smacking legislation draws a necessary line in the sand. Parent education and whanau screening may have a place, although Pakeha-controlled screening will lead to racial profiling. Maori-led initiatives - including Te Kahui Manaki Tamariki Trust and Mana Ririki Summit, 500 health scholarships established this year, and ultimately the devolvement of government budgets to Maori agencies - are the right solutions. Maori-led health will create healthy Maori.
Positives included belated recognition of Hane Manahi, a World War II Te Arawa war hero. Willie Apiata, VC, provided a humble role model in an age where mana is often measured by the size of a corporate koru. Storm Uru, rower and Maori Sportsperson of the Year, did similar.
Ranginui Walker, Sir Hugh Kawharu, Sydney Mead and Bruce Biggs were recognised as superlative Maori scholars. Papaarangi Reid's Public Health Champion Award was equally meritorious. Maori with some proficiency in te reo rose to 51 per cent, a language in recovery.
Terrorism dominated the end of the year. A United States and UN Security Council-led post 9/11 worldwide drive to combat international terrorism fostered an ill-conceived Terrorism Suppression Act. Critics warned the police and the SIS would misuse it against Maori and other domestic groups.
The Solicitor-General made the right call. There are legitimate arms charges but nothing akin to the terrorism alleged. The Urewera recipe included a combination of rural community; hunting; an instinct to protect the ancestral forest; a justified sense of historical injustice; alienation and independence; a desire to assist kids in the outdoors; connections with progressive Pakeha protest groups; freely available Trade Me camo gear and firearms; some machismo; and the odd nutter.
There will be repercussions. Police went over the top seizing underwear, searching Tame Iti's nightie-clad daughter in the street, pointing guns at kids, photographing grandmothers at checkpoints, raiding a free bicycle repair shop.
If the Human Rights Commission or Independent Police Conduct Authority make a substantial finding against police, expect a Maori Party clean sweep of the Maori seats. If not, Labour might retain one or two seats.
New economics and the terrorist issue may be polarising Maori. The only shift in the Maori party vote over the last year has been nine points from Labour to National. Support for Labour in Tamaki-Auckland has increased dramatically since April. Are Jafa Maori as uncomfortable with Tuhoe protest as Pakeha?
2008 shapes as a big election year. The country wants change. Labour will need the Maori Party to govern. National may not.
* Dr Rawiri Taonui is head of Maori and indigenous studies at Canterbury University.
